Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is one of America's most treasured symbols of freedom. It is located on Liberty Island at the mouth of the Hudson River. In the year 3978, human refugee George Taylor fled from Ape City with his newly acquired mate, Nova. During the course of several days, Taylor had believed that he had been living on a strange, alien world. Following the shoreline, he came upon the Statue's ruins, and realized that he was still on Earth. Worse, he deduced that the humans of his own era must have waged a global war, which paved the way for a dystopic future wherein humans became subservient to evolved apes. The statue was one of the few surviving icons of pre-Apocalyptic human society. Over the course of centuries however, dramatic geological shifts left the statue halfway buried in the sand. Speculation ]] It has been inferred that Dr. Zaius knew of the existence of the Statue of Liberty. It is clear that he was aware of mankind's past, and to some extent, possessed knowledge of humanity's downfall. When Taylor indicated his plan to ''"find his destiny", Zaius cryptically responded with, "Do not look for it, Taylor. You may not like what you find." In all likelihood, Zaius may have been referencing the Forbidden Zone, but it is just possible that he was speaking of the Statue itself. A large copper statue bearing a human face would have been an artifact of disturbing and heretical significance to one such as Dr. Zaius. Rod Serling, in his early script treatments for the movie, specified that Zaius should have suspicions about humanity's civilized past, "but it must be only an inkling", and that his realization of the truth should not occur until after the discoveries at Cornelius' archaeological site. In contrast, Malibu Graphics' Planet of the Apes: Sins of the Father depicted the Statue of Liberty revealed to a young Zaius by his father Dr. Augustus, Minister of Science. Behind The Scenes It was during the early script revisions that the idea for the famous ending to Planet of the Apes was devised. Producer Arthur P. Jacobs recalled, "We were trying to make the audience believe it was another planet, which differs from Boulle‘s novel in which it WAS another planet. I thought that was rather predictable when we were doing the first screenplay. It's funny, I was having lunch with Blake Edwards, who at one point was going to direct it, at the Yugo Kosherarna Delicatessen in Burbank, across the street from Warner Brothers. I said to him at the time. 'It doesn't work, it's too predictable.' Then I said, 'What if he was on the earth the whole time and doesn't know it, and the audience doesn‘t know it.' Blake said, 'That's terrific. Let's get a hold of Rod.' As we walked out, after paying for the two ham sandwiches, we looked up, and there's this big Statue of Liberty on the wall of the deltcatessen. We both looked at each other and said, 'Rosebud' (the key to the plot of 'Citizen Kane'). If we never had lunch in that delicatessen, I doubt that we would have had the Statue of Liberty as the end of the picture. I sent the finished script to Boulle, and he wrote back, saying he thought it was more inventive than his own ending, and wished that he had thought of it when he wrote the book." 'Cinefantastique Planet of the Apes Issue' (1972) at Hunter's Planet of the Apes Archive Blake Edwards himself claimed that he came up with the Statue of Liberty ending with former Disney artist Don Peters, adding "As I recall it was pretty much Don". Don Peters, for his part, claimed that it was his idea alone, because he first introduced the ruined Statue of Liberty scenes to the Apes project when he did the preliminary sketches for Arthur P. Jacobs when the film was in development at Warner Bros. The Legend of the Planet of the Apes, by Brian Pendreigh However, the twist ending has also been attributed to Rod Serling, who's experience writing for Twilight Zone gives his claim more creedence. Mort Abrahams, who as associate producer was very involved in script revisions, said succinctly "That was Rod's ending".The Planet of the Apes Chronicles by Paul A. Woods (Page 46) Serling's numerous script revisions through 1964 and 1965 show an evolving concept, from the movie being set on an alien planet (as in the book), to the discovery of Earth artifacts in a bomb shelter, to the sight of the famous statue. When asked about the ending himself, Serling said (in 1972), "The book's ending is what I wanted to use in the film, as much as I loved the idea of the Statue of Liberty. I always believed that was my idea." But when asked if the ending was a combination of four or five people thinking exactly the same thing at about the same time, he replied, "That's very possible. Visually, it's an exciting idea because a fragment can be taken from it, and still withhold what it is. That's the beauty of the Statue of Liberty." Speaking to Marvel Comics two years later, Serling shared the credit, saying it was "In collaboration with Jacobs. Yes, it was a wild cinematic scene."'Marvel Planet of the Apes, UK Issue 12' (1975) In stark contrast to Jacobs' above assertion, Boulle maintained: "I disliked somewhat, the ending that was used - the Statue of Liberty - which the critics seemed to like, but personally, I prefer my own. Since they decided to make the fllm, they picked this ending. They had that final scene in mind from the first day." Notes * There are two scenes where we see the Statue of Liberty, each scene having been done a different way. The first is shot from above, down through the crown of the edifice, showing the hand holding the torch; both of these were cardboard and paper maché replicas, expertly thrust into the picture to look real. This shot looking down at Taylor required a very high scaffold to be constructed. At 66 years of age, director of photography Leon Shamroy refused to climb the structure, while the assistant director had a phobia of heights. Instead, director Franklin J. Schaffner and art director William Creber filmed the perspective shot. The second scene was a 'glass shot' - a very detailed painting done by Emil Kosa on glass, but with a black area painted in for where the live action would be matted in. The painting was done on glass so that, where necessary, lights may be shone through from the back (such a case would be if a futuristic city would be required, lights could be placed as windows etc.). The glass also permits the artist to be very detailed without the surface grain of the canvas or paper showing through.[http://pota.goatley.com/comics/potauk095_part2.pdf SFX on the Planet of the Apes], by James Glenn - 'Planet of the Apes' UK #95 (11 August 1976)Behind the Planet of the Apes * Footage of the Statue of Liberty scene from Planet of the Apes was re-used in the opening sequence for Beneath the Planet of the Apes. * The Statue of Liberty was featured on the cover art for the Planet of the Apes DVD that was included in the "Planet of the Apes: The Evolution" collection (2001). * She is seen intact in the 2011 film "Rise of the Apes", foreshadowing her destruction in the original film. * Planet of the Apes * Beneath the Planet of the Apes (recap footage) * '' Planet of the Men Return to the Planet of the Apes (1988 screenplay) Return of the Apes Planet of the Apes (Sam Hamm screenplay) Planet of the Apes (2001) Trivia * In fact, as has been noted, the symbolism of the Statue of Liberty to American culture made it a such a powerful icon that it had already appeared under attack in science fiction imagery many times, including two Alex Schomburg magazine covers from 1953 and 1964.FAQ page at 'The Last Flight of the Icarus' As far back as 1887, and many times since, the image of a war-damaged Statue of Liberty was used to stir the patriotic instincts of the American public.'The ruined Statue of Liberty' at Gerry Canavan blogspot That's not to suggest that none of the above named people came up with the concept in relation to Planet of the Apes, but rather to note that it was already acknowledged as the most potent symbol of American liberty and freedom. * Comic book legend Jack Kirby paid homage to the climactic scene from Planet of the Apes in the first issue of the DC Comics comic book series, Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth. * In the Mel Brooks' comedy Spaceballs, after Spaceball One/Mega-Maid exploded its head and vaccum handle landed on a beach and appeared similar to this image of the Statue of Liberty. After the crash, two chimpanzees riding horse back saw what was "coming out of her nose" and dreaded the arrival of the Spaceballs. External Links * FAQ page at 'The Last Flight of the Icarus' * 'The ruined Statue of Liberty' at Gerry Canavan blogspot * Statue of Liberty article at Wikipedia References ---- Category:Items Category:Locations (APJ)